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We’ve teamed up with craft blogger RedTedArt, to bring you some festive, printable, lacing Christmas Cards so you can enjoy more crafty festive fun this year.
We’ve teamed up with craft blogger RedTedArt, to bring you some festive, printable, lacing Christmas Cards so you can enjoy more crafty festive fun this year.
Emma is a busy mum to three even busier children. She is passionate about the importance of science education and making science fun for kids. You can find Emma’s science-based activities and investigations over on Science Sparks, a website bursting with creative and engaging ideas for children of all ages.
Emma has pulled together some fun science experiments that you can do at home to celebrate British Science Week.
I’ve spoken to many parents over the years who find the prospectof science at home to be a little daunting; they worry it’ll be messy, not workor be hard to explain. There’s no doubt that sometimes it can be a little messyand it doesn’t always work, but part of the fun for me is working together withmy children to find out why something didn’t work or how we can improve it.
As this week is British Science Week there’s no better time tohave a go at some science at home. You’ll probably be surprised at how everydaykitchen items can be used for a fun investigation that’ll have both you and thekids asking questions and wanting to try more!
A lava lampis almost mess free and especially good as it can be used over and over again.
Materials
Tall jar orbottle
Vegetable oil
Water
Foodcolouring
Effervescentvitamin tablet
Instructions
Fill the jar or bottle about one quarter full with water.
Fill to almost the top with vegetable oil.
The oil and water will separate into two layers with water atthe bottom and oil at the top. If you shake the bottle to mix them up, theywill separate out again!
Once the oil and water have separated, use a pipette to drop foodcolouring into the oil. This will drop through into the water, which is greatfun to watch.
Drop half an effervescent vitamin tablet into the lava lamp andwatch the bubbles!
Once the bubblesstop add another half tablet to make the lava lamp fizz again.
Whydoes this work?
Theeffervescent vitamin tablet reacts with the water to produce carbon dioxidegas. The bubblesof carbon dioxide carry the coloured water into the oil giving a lavalamp effect.
This activity encourages children to think about why some objectsfloat in water and some sink.
Materials
A selection of different balls – one should sink
Bubble wrap
Tape
A container filled with water
Instructions
Ask the children to sort the balls into those they think will sinkand those they think will float.
Test the balls one at a time.
Take a ball, which sank and wrap in bubble wrap secured with tape.
Test the bubble wrap ball again. It should float! If it doesn’tfloat add more bubble wrap until it does.
Whydoes this work?
Although the bubble wrap makes the ballweigh a little more, it also displaces extra water making the ball more buoyant.The pockets of air in the bubble wrap mean that the ball and bubble wraptogether are less dense than the water, which means the ball floats!
This is agreat activity for thinking about how things change over time and fantastic funas it includes chocolate.
Materials
White, darkand milk chocolate buttons
Timer
Pen and paper
Instructions
Place a whitechocolate button in the centre of the experimenter’s hand and start the timer.
Stop thetimer when all the chocolate has melted and record the time.
Repeat with amilk and dark chocolate button.
Try again,but this time the experimenter should close their hand and then try with the chocolatebuttons resting on top of the hand.
Where do theymelt the fastest? Why do you think that is?
Would a sugar-coatedchocolate like an M and M melt faster or more slowly?
If you likethe sound of the ideas above don’t forget to check out ScienceSparks for moresimple and fun science ideas for kids.
Emma is a busy mum to three even busier children. She is passionate about the importance of science education and making science fun for kids. You can find Emma’s science-based activities and investigations over on Science Sparks, a website bursting with creative and engaging ideas for children of all ages.
Emma has pulled together some fun science experiments that you can do at home to celebrate British Science Week.
I’ve spoken to many parents over the years who find the prospectof science at home to be a little daunting; they worry it’ll be messy, not workor be hard to explain. There’s no doubt that sometimes it can be a little messyand it doesn’t always work, but part of the fun for me is working together withmy children to find out why something didn’t work or how we can improve it.
As this week is British Science Week there’s no better time tohave a go at some science at home. You’ll probably be surprised at how everydaykitchen items can be used for a fun investigation that’ll have both you and thekids asking questions and wanting to try more!
A lava lampis almost mess free and especially good as it can be used over and over again.
Materials
Tall jar orbottle
Vegetable oil
Water
Foodcolouring
Effervescentvitamin tablet
Instructions
Fill the jar or bottle about one quarter full with water.
Fill to almost the top with vegetable oil.
The oil and water will separate into two layers with water atthe bottom and oil at the top. If you shake the bottle to mix them up, theywill separate out again!
Once the oil and water have separated, use a pipette to drop foodcolouring into the oil. This will drop through into the water, which is greatfun to watch.
Drop half an effervescent vitamin tablet into the lava lamp andwatch the bubbles!
Once the bubblesstop add another half tablet to make the lava lamp fizz again.
Whydoes this work?
Theeffervescent vitamin tablet reacts with the water to produce carbon dioxidegas. The bubblesof carbon dioxide carry the coloured water into the oil giving a lavalamp effect.
This activity encourages children to think about why some objectsfloat in water and some sink.
Materials
A selection of different balls – one should sink
Bubble wrap
Tape
A container filled with water
Instructions
Ask the children to sort the balls into those they think will sinkand those they think will float.
Test the balls one at a time.
Take a ball, which sank and wrap in bubble wrap secured with tape.
Test the bubble wrap ball again. It should float! If it doesn’tfloat add more bubble wrap until it does.
Whydoes this work?
Although the bubble wrap makes the ballweigh a little more, it also displaces extra water making the ball more buoyant.The pockets of air in the bubble wrap mean that the ball and bubble wraptogether are less dense than the water, which means the ball floats!
This is agreat activity for thinking about how things change over time and fantastic funas it includes chocolate.
Materials
White, darkand milk chocolate buttons
Timer
Pen and paper
Instructions
Place a whitechocolate button in the centre of the experimenter’s hand and start the timer.
Stop thetimer when all the chocolate has melted and record the time.
Repeat with amilk and dark chocolate button.
Try again,but this time the experimenter should close their hand and then try with the chocolatebuttons resting on top of the hand.
Where do theymelt the fastest? Why do you think that is?
Would a sugar-coatedchocolate like an M and M melt faster or more slowly?
If you likethe sound of the ideas above don’t forget to check out ScienceSparks for moresimple and fun science ideas for kids.
If you’re anything like me (late 30’s, balding, social life not as full as it once was) you’ll have had the 19th September circled in your diary for a long time – International Talk Like a Pirate Day!Yes, it’s time to batten down the hatches, hoist the main sail, and fly the Jolly Roger once again as otherwise sane people pepper their vocabulary with a boat load of ahoy, aha and avast.The salty seadogs at Learning Resources asked me to don my captain’s hat and take a look at three of their fantastic products to make sure they were ship shape ahead of this year’s talk like a pirate day and to think of a few ideas for how each product could be used to aid learning.
Jolly Roger's Pirate PiecesThis is a great game for 2-4 players to begin to recognise fractions, specifically halves, quarters and thirds. The pirate loot is gathered in the centre of the board and players take it in turns to use the spinner to determine which piece of treasure they will be able to take from the centre pile: ½ a gem stone, a 1/3 of a gold medallion, a ¼ of a treasure map or a whole golden chalice?The winner is the first person to fill up their treasure chest, helpfully indicated by empty shapes split into halves, thirds and quarters. But, crucially, there is not enough treasure for all four players; there will need to be some skulduggery in order for any pirate to complete their haul. Once all the treasure has been collected from the middle you can then steal treasure from the other buccaneers, robbing them of their whole fractions whilst adding to your own.Opportunities for learning
Play MoneyNo pirate plunder is complete without some sterling, and this set of UK coins and notes has everything you would need to introduce working with money. The coins are exact replicas of all current UK coins from 1p up to £2 – they’re even a little bit chunkier than the real thing to make handling a little more straightforward. Also included are a set of notes from £5-£50. Everything you might need to set up a role play area or to start working with money more in depth.Opportunities for learning
Playbrix Pirate AdventureA pirate is not really a pirate unless they have a tall ship upon which to sail the seven seas and this fantastic resource allows them to build just that. The set comprises of a number of different cardboard bricks: some shaped in squares and rectangles; some in triangles and pyramids. This range of building materials allows any budding Blackbeards to create a ship, a fort or anything they want as part of their pirate universe. Thanks to some clever reinforcement in the construction of the bricks they are all impressively durable as well.Opportunities for learning
If you’re anything like me (late 30’s, balding, social life not as full as it once was) you’ll have had the 19th September circled in your diary for a long time – International Talk Like a Pirate Day!Yes, it’s time to batten down the hatches, hoist the main sail, and fly the Jolly Roger once again as otherwise sane people pepper their vocabulary with a boat load of ahoy, aha and avast.The salty seadogs at Learning Resources asked me to don my captain’s hat and take a look at three of their fantastic products to make sure they were ship shape ahead of this year’s talk like a pirate day and to think of a few ideas for how each product could be used to aid learning.Jolly Roger's Pirate PiecesThis is a great game for 2-4 players to begin to recognise fractions, specifically halves, quarters and thirds. The pirate loot is gathered in the centre of the board and players take it in turns to use the spinner to determine which piece of treasure they will be able to take from the centre pile: ½ a gem stone, a 1/3 of a gold medallion, a ¼ of a treasure map or a whole golden chalice?The winner is the first person to fill up their treasure chest, helpfully indicated by empty shapes split into halves, thirds and quarters. But, crucially, there is not enough treasure for all four players; there will need to be some skulduggery in order for any pirate to complete their haul. Once all the treasure has been collected from the middle you can then steal treasure from the other buccaneers, robbing them of their whole fractions whilst adding to your own.Opportunities for learningPlay MoneyNo pirate plunder is complete without some sterling, and this set of UK coins and notes has everything you would need to introduce working with money. The coins are exact replicas of all current UK coins from 1p up to £2 – they’re even a little bit chunkier than the real thing to make handling a little more straightforward. Also included are a set of notes from £5-£50. Everything you might need to set up a role play area or to start working with money more in depth.Opportunities for learningPlaybrix Pirate AdventureA pirate is not really a pirate unless they have a tall ship upon which to sail the seven seas and this fantastic resource allows them to build just that. The set comprises of a number of different cardboard bricks: some shaped in squares and rectangles; some in triangles and pyramids. This range of building materials allows any budding Blackbeards to create a ship, a fort or anything they want as part of their pirate universe. Thanks to some clever reinforcement in the construction of the bricks they are all impressively durable as well.Opportunities for learning
